Music is my life, professionally, for nearly 60 years. To be recognized by the academy is still the highest honor.

Don't go backwards - you've already been there.

Music to me is like breathing. I don't get tired of breathing, I don't get tired of music.

Just because you can't see anything , doesn't mean you should shut your eyes.

What is a soul? It's like electricity - we don't really know what it is, but it's a force that can light a room.

Love is a special word, and I use it only when I mean it. You say the word too much and it becomes cheap.

Affluence separates people. Poverty knits 'em together. You got some sugar and I don't; I borrow some of yours. Next month you might not have any flour; well, I'll give you some of mine.

Learning to read music in Braille and play by ear helped me develop a damn good memory.

There are many spokes on the wheel of life. First, we're here to explore new possibilities.

Live each day like it's your last, 'cause one day you gonna be right

There's nothing written in the Bible, Old or New testament, that says, 'If you believe in Me, you ain't going to have no troubles.'

Never let a man stay the night. Dawn has a way of casting a pall on any night magic.

everybody say's that blue eyed is a freak, but i say that my blue is unique!

The power of getting to know one another is so immense, eclipsed only by first getting to know ourselves.

Love and hate have a magical transforming power. They are the great soul changers. We grow through their exercise into the likeness of what we contemplate.

I searched everywhere for a proof of reality, when all the while I understood quite well that the standard of reality had changed

My mother used to talk about passages and, once in a while, about ordeals. We all have them; we are all shaped by them. She thought the key was to find the healing in the hurt.

It had been a humdrum couple of days, reaffirming his belief in reincarnation: everything was so boring that this could not be the first time he'd experienced it.

The intensity of the pain depends on the degree of resistance to the present moment.

The highest virtue is not virtuous. Therefore it has virtue. The lowest virtue holds on to virtue. Therefore it has no virtue.

Three things are needed to educate the peasantry: schools, schools, and schools.